Nvidia Shield TV

[Gremlin]

Anyone own one? If so liking it? Worth it? Use it all the time?

 

What apps do you have installed?

[Guest_Jim_*]

Andrew (ClayMeow) reviewed one back in July, so you can see what he wrote up then.

[Gremlin]

I saw that review, was hoping for other people to chime in

[WhenKittensATK]

I own one. I mostly use it as a streaming box with Plex and XBMC. Occasionally I'll watch a Twitch stream on it. It does well streaming and Nvidia is pushing out updates for the gaming and media side.

 

I think I'm done with HTPCs. Going to stick with set-top boxes for a better couch experience.

Edited January 14, 2016 by WhenKittensATK

[xPETEZx]

Does this thing work streaming from a PC?

 

I note the stream option in my nVidia control panel. 

 

If so...might be a good buy for me to game on the couch without bothering with a full PC there.

[Gremlin]

Yes it does. As long you have a good router  you can stream your game wirelessly or you can can use a lan cable. I did it for BF4 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Gremlin

[ClayMeow]

So I know you already read my review, but I'll just provide a few quick points from my use since then. Consider this an unofficial addendum. lol

 

I moved into a new apartment since the review and was now able to set it up to be connected directly (wired) instead of via WiFi, which has made it relatively flawless in terms of streaming from my PC.

 

Game Streaming: I don't do it often because technically my PC monitor is better than my TV (3440x1440 compared to 1080p), but I've used the streaming when I have friends over for local co-op games (eg. Rocket League), and it's great. The only weird thing is that it doesn't handle multiple Shield Controllers very well in some games. I think because the Shield TV device itself can be controlled by any controller/accessory you have connected, so some games see my two controllers as one. I personally got around this by hooking up my non-Shield controller (Razer Sabertooth) to my PC, allowing me to use that and a Shield Controller at the same time without it ever confusing the two. This wouldn't be ideal if you had your Shield TV and PC in different rooms though, but for me it worked just fine. That being said, I haven't actually researched this issue at all to see if there's a fix or better workaround.

 

Chromecast Streaming: AWESOME. Simply install the Chromecast app into Google Chrome on your PC and you can stream whenever you want. When you "turn on" your cast, the Shield TV automatically switches to that; no further input needed. Chrome even allows you to drag videos into the browser to play directly, so you can do that if you prefer to download MP4s of your favorite tv shows or movies instead of streaming them from Netflix or whathaveyou. Only caveat is you can't control the streaming from your Shield TV, only your PC. So if you need to pause a movie, you have to get up and go to your PC to do so. Still, I love it.

[kuri]

Nice, I was wondering about the Shield too since the free remote deal is back on Amazon and B&H.

 

I was thinking of building a NUC for a HTPC for flexibility but the Shield is really making me second guess my plan.

[Gremlin]

I use Kodi for streaming from PC to shield.. Nvidia is offering a free shield remote if you buy a Shield.. 

Edited March 23, 2016 by Gremlin

[ClayMeow]

Nice, I was wondering about the Shield too since the free remote deal is back on Amazon and B&H.

 

I was thinking of building a NUC for a HTPC for flexibility but the Shield is really making me second guess my plan.

IMO, the remote is completely pointless. I barely use it because the controller does everything it does and more. Yeah, it's smaller, but whatever. I mean free is nice though - but definitely not worth the usual $50 price tag.

 

As for an HTPC vs the Shield, I think the Shield will probably wind up being more cost effective if you already have a beefy gaming machine to stream from. It also has two USB ports that allow for direct expansion via flash drives and/or hard drives, so space shouldn't really be an issue there either.

[kuri]

IMO, the remote is completely pointless. I barely use it because the controller does everything it does and more. Yeah, it's smaller, but whatever. I mean free is nice though - but definitely not worth the usual $50 price tag.

was thinking of building a NUC for a HTPC for flexibility but the Shield is really making me second guess my plan.

 

As for an HTPC vs the Shield, I think the Shield will probably wind up being more cost effective if you already have a beefy gaming machine to stream from. It also has two USB ports that allow for direct expansion via flash drives and/or hard drives, so space shouldn't really be an issue there either.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards the Shield at this point. I wasn't planning on gaming on the HTPC if I was going with a NUC that's in the same price range, so that's a bonus with the Shield. The slick interface is most definitely a plus versus full blown Windows 10, not to mention HDMI 2.0 for proper 4k support (even the latest NUCs are still HDMI 1.4b).

 

Other than that, both will run Kodi so that's a non-factor.

 

The offset is I won't be able to use the Shield for misc tasks such as a torrent server, or potential media server doing transcoding work, but I easily have workarounds for those.

[kuri]

To follow up on this, I purchased the Shield a while back and haven't looked back.  It's been running SPMC flawlessly, and the recent firmware update even enabled Plex Server support with hardware aided transcoding.